ASUU and OAU management fail to reach agreement on strike action, as ASUU remains defiant
The crisis engulfing Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, over the disbursement of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) has not subsided, as members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the institution’s management continue to argue over ASUU’s call for strike action.
While ASUU’s National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, insisted that members are on an indefinite and total strike over management’s failure to follow a pre-established template for the disbursement of EAA, the university urged parents and members of the public to disregard any strike notice, stating that academic activities continue in the institution. Osodeke had accused the vice chancellor, Prof Eyitope Ogunbodede, for the OAU branch of the union’s walkout.
He stated that the vice chancellor, not the Federal Government, was responsible for the industrial action launched in response to unpaid EAA.
According to the ASUU president, only academics who have performed excessive labor are eligible for EAA and are compensated based on the volume of work performed.
“The template is what other universities, over 40 in total, have utilized in accordance with the amount of money granted by the Federal Government since December,” he explained.
He criticized the vice chancellor’s plan to enlist a parallel union within the university, the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA), in developing a new template for calculating the allowance each lecturer should receive.
“CONUA was not just an unlawful trade union,” Osodeke explained, “but the money was donated to OAU in the name of ASUU, not CONUA, and so the body cannot dictate how it should be distributed.
However, university officials stated in their response that academic activities continue at the school. Mr Biodun Olanrewaju, the university’s spokesman, told The Guardian that the institution has two academic unions, ASUU and CONUA, and that only ASUU has called its members out on strike.
He said, however, that a meeting of all academic employees was held on Tuesday, during which it was agreed that management should convene a committee to investigate the vexing issue.
“Only a small percentage of ASUU-affiliated professors are discussing strike action, while the vast majority of lecturers are working and not planning any strike,” he explained. A greater proportion of instructors at the institution are on duty, while other campus activities continue as scheduled.”
Olanrewaju urged parents and guardians to avoid any circular from any quarter declaring university-wide industrial action.
Olanrewaju stated in a statement that the overwhelming majority of academic staff at OAU are not on strike and have no intention of doing so.
“The university administration is using this means to inform the general public, notably our students, their parents, and guardians, that courses are continuing and students are being attended to by lecturers in their various departments,” the statement said in part.
“In light of this, parents, guardians, alumni, and friends of the institution can be guaranteed of an uninterrupted academic calendar, as our students are instructed to continue with their normal academic activities.”
